Tuyen’s house.
A few days after the attack.
It had been a few days since the warehouse party turned nightmare, when Tuyen had managed to stumble home. She hadn’t left the house since.
The small, two storey house looked uninhabited. Perfectly clean and empty rooms were visible through the ground floor windows. The only sign of life came from a small window at the corner of the house on the top floor, with the occasional movement from behind the drawn curtains.
With her aunt and uncle still out of town with Min, Tuyen was the only one in the house. Even with the whole place to herself, she’d practically locked herself in her room. The rest of the house didn’t feel safe. Even her room didn’t feel safe. It never really had- it wasn’t home like the tiny apartment she’d stayed in with her dad was, but at least it was somewhere she could be alone.
Before. Now there was always another voice whispering in her ear. She didn’t know what it was- if it even was something. It was probably just her losing her mind.
She’d barely slept, dark circles underneath her eyes stark against her pallid skin. At least there was no one to see the state she was in, except the shadow slinking around her that only she could see. It was silent for once, as she sat on her floor with her back against the bed. Maybe it thought she was doing a good enough job at torturing herself. A dark, loose skirt covered her legs pulled up to her chest and all the evidence of how much she’d spiralled these past few days.
She held Vicky’s phone in her hands, resting against her knees. She kept thinking she should give it back to her family… But she couldn’t bring herself to leave the house. Selfishly, she didn’t want to lose the last thing she had of her best friend either. The first day, she’d hoped it was some kind of horrendous hallucination. That would be better than Vicky being dead. But when she hadn’t turned up asking for her phone or demanding an explanation, Tuyen realised it hadn’t been. Vicky was really dead… And it was her fault.
Once, not so long after Tuyen’s father had passed, a promise had been made. It happened during the quiet hours of a sleepover in Vicky’s living room, one of the final ones they would ever have together before Vicky would become obsessed with her image and would never ever engage in something so lame and childish. A concerning amount of empty soda cans had lined the coffee table, nothing was left in the giant bowl for popcorn besides kernels and salt, and the only light was the dim glow from the TV as scenes from an R-Rated movie they were definitely way too young to watch looped on a DVD menu.
It was in this room, in that fugue state between nodding off only to momentarily jerk awake when their heads dipped too quickly, that Vicky, calling back to a conversation earlier in the night, groggily called out to Tuyen. Back then Tuyen’s friend was capable of sincerity, a trait that Vicky would shove down deep inside of her once she became popular, assuming she hadn’t killed it completely. So, without feeling the slightest bit awkward about it and wanting to find a way to make her friend who had lost not one but both parents feel some kind of comfort, Vicky promised she’d always be there for Tuyen no matter what.
Even if she died.
“I’ll just haunt you,” explained Vicky, as if it was something she could just do.
At the time it had seemed like she was just trying to be funny, breaking the tension of the heavy subject with a joke, but now it was more like a threat. A metaphorical haunting, perhaps, the dead phone of a dead friend serving as a constant reminder of one’s own abundant inadequacies, but if Tuyen had taken that moment to draw back the curtain and peep out the window she would’ve just seen a spirit in a bubblegum pink tracksuit fly up her driveway on a bicycle and skid to a stop.
The very-much-still-breathing Vicky groaned ever so slightly to herself as she glared at Tuyen’s front door, put down the kickstand, and adjusted the empty bat holder. She absolutely *hated* coming to Tuyen’s house even if it gave her a chance of running into Min. It was just so tiny and drab and there was nothing to do there. They didn’t even have a pool! How people could choose to live like this was truly bewildering to Vicky.
However, the worst part about Tuyen’s place was her aunt. When Vicky was younger she was kind of scared of her, Tuyen’s own anxiety whenever the woman was around spreading to Vicky. Now, Vicky just thought Tuyen’s aunt was a bitch, and Vicky was well versed with handling bitches. Despite this, Vicky’s hand still seized as she went to knock on the door, remembering the first time she’d come to Tuyen’s house, so excited to finally be allowed over, only to be yelled at by her aunt for knocking too loud. Her knuckles lightly rapped against the door.
The sound would be barely audible in Tuyen’s room. However, a few heartbeats later, as patience grew thin on the doorstep, there was a louder knock, followed by a banging. The banging subsided and in its place came a call from beyond,
“Tuyen? Tuyen!” Outside, Vicky made a flustered noise as she stepped back. Her hand patted at her pocket, briefly forgetting that her phone had completely disappeared in the chaos of everything that she did not want to think about right now. Fuck. She was probably missing out on like a thousand of text messages at this point. It was so stupid that her parents wouldn’t just buy her a new one. Ugh! She threw her head back with a sigh, rolling her eyes, her gaze stopping at the window of Tuyen’s room.
Ten seconds and Vicky was throwing a rock. Five. Four. Threetwoon—
Before Vicky got a chance to find the perfect rock for throwing at a window, the door opened. Tuyen just stood there, hands half covered by her sweater gripping tightly onto the handle. Her face was slightly damp, and she'd pulled her hair back into a low ponytail in an attempt to hide how greasy it was. The first knock had been barely audible, quickly written off as her imagination. The banging wasn't something she could ignore- even if it turned out to be a hallucination.
She'd expected it to all be another trick her mind was playing on her when she heard Vicky's voice. It still could be. It was a cruel trick. Maybe her guilt was manifesting. Maybe Vicky had come back to haunt her for leaving her to die.
”V- Vicky?” She stammered out, her voice slightly hoarse. In an unexpected move from someone who never took the initiative, and was constantly scared of rejection, she stepped forward to hug her friend. She'd learned the one thing her hallucinations couldn't imitate was touch. She felt real. Unless it was someone else with Vicky's face… No, that wouldn't make sense, anyone else would push her away immediately. Vicky was alive. Then what had she seen? Was that all a hallucination too? Or was none of this real?
The hug was short lived, Tuyen quickly stepping back when she confirmed her friend wasn't a ghost but a real, living and breathing person. She managed a small, nervous smile, really hoping her glasses did a good enough job at hiding the massive bags under her eyes. She should've quickly put on some makeup rather than just splashing water on her face on the way down. She didn't want anyone to see her like this, but especially not Vicky. Even if she was alive, Tuyen had still abandoned her. The grief she'd just begun to feel morphed into more guilt and a different kind of anxiety.
Vicky must be mad at her. She hadn't visited for days… Not even when Tuyen had her phone. She should just apologise first. But Vicky had told her it was annoying when she always apologised, so maybe that would make her even angrier. Saying she'd thought Vicky was dead would just sound like an awful excuse. It was best to act like normal, and wait for Vicky to tell her what she'd done wrong.
”I’m glad you're alright- I didn't know what to do after the… Party. Do you, uh, wanna come in? My family's still away, so it's just me. We can even sit in the living room… Did you come for your phone?”If Vicky was mad her face didn’t show it, although the smile she had offered Tuyen faded quicker than usual as the party was mentioned. Her memory of it was scattered and broken, swathes of the evening blacked out from either alcohol or pure terror. What she could recall were things that Vicky wished she couldn’t. It had taken a few days to warp those horrific images, turning them into the fuel she needed to pull herself out of a cocoon of bedsheets to do something other than talk to the cops, rebranding the trauma as motivation.
So when Tuyen said “Party” and Vicky heard Chef’s dying scream as he was bisected in her head she was hardly bothered by it at all. If anything, it just reminded her of how much it sucked that she had to throw out her party outfit because of all of the blood. Vicky was doing fine. She was doing great. She was doing better than Tuyen was doing, that was a fucking fact. Vicky had whiffed a bit of funk during that short hug. It smelled like victory. Normally Vicky was the one in need of consultation. It was a nice change of pace.
For a second Vicky thought that she really should check and see if Tuyen was okay. Perhaps even two seconds.
“You have my phone? Thank God!” said Vicky. She was completely nonchalant as she breezed past Tuyen, happily ignoring the “no shoes in the house” policy now that Tuyen’s aunt was gone as she made a beeline for the couch. She dropped down across it with a violent thump, kicking her sneakers up on the armrest, knocking down a couple of throw pillows that she didn’t bother to pick up, taking the entire couch to herself. Her right hand was draped out oddly off the couch, slightly raised, as if she was resting it on something that wasn’t there.
“I must’ve missed like a million texts. Everyone is probably worried sick about me! Fucking Diane. Still can’t believe that after all I went through she grounded me anyway. So glad to be out of that house,” said Vicky.
That was a lie, and Tuyen would know it was a lie. Even if Vicky’s mother Diane did ground her daughter, which she wouldn’t, there was no way in hell that Vicky would abide by the grounding. It was just a better excuse than, “Sorry I would’ve come over sooner but I was too busy staring blankly at the wall next to my bed.”
“Tuyen!” barked Vicky, jumping back up to her feet despite having just sat down. She pointed at Tuyen with the same kind of enthusiasm she would have if she was thrusting out a pom pom.
“What are you doing today?”Her phone, Tuyen’s shitty, sad appearance, and the opportunity to finally chill in a part of Tuyen’s house that wasn’t her bedroom had briefly distracted Vicky from the reason for the visit. If there were any hard feelings about the party, Vicky was blowing right past it and resuming the friendship as if one of them didn’t completely abandon the other to die in a warehouse. Water under the bridge, that, or more likely it was just ammunition saved for later, waiting to be loaded and fired when Vicky really wanted to pressure Tuyen into doing something for her.
Without allowing the girl an opportunity to answer, because the answer was always going to be whatever Vicky wanted her to do anyway, Vicky said,
“You’re going to shit your fucking pants!” The hand that pointed at Tuyen wiggled back and forth. Apparently it wasn’t an order so much as it was a prediction. Whatever Vicky believed would make Tuyen incontinent was held within her very hand. Only, Vicky’s hand wasn’t fully closed, but cupped in a loose grip, and the wiggling made it quite clear that what she was holding was nothing.
“What do you see?” asked Vicky, barely able to contain the grin.
Was this another trick? Was Vicky playing a trick on Tuyen?
Unlike Vicky, she didn't have the chance to sit down and jump back up, too overwhelmed by the whirlwind that was her friend. Brief relief that she wasn't immediately pushed away turned into anxiety over the dirt from Vicky's shoes transferring onto the couch armrest. Hopefully it would be easy to clean off… She didn't want to think about how angry her aunt would be if it wasn't. Min wouldn't even be there to diffuse the situation anymore either. Then there were other anxieties: why was Vicky lying about being grounded? Because she was upset with Tuyen but didn't want to say anything? Did she look so bad Vicky was worried about upsetting her, when normally she'd be brutally honest? At least, in the last few years she was… Maybe the party had changed things a bit.
Or not, based on how Tuyen couldn't get a word in otherwise. Any offer to run upstairs and actually get Vicky's phone was blown away with the wind, as were any other words Tuyen might have wanted to say. Thankfully, she didn't have anything to do today… Not that she really wanted to be around anyone right now. But she couldn't say that to Vicky, especially when she seemed to be in a good mood, all things considered.
Not that she could ever say that to Vicky.
”Nothing.” Tuyen answered eventually, squinting at Vicky's outstretched hand. Her eyes dropped as if looking at the floor out of confusion, when really she was looking at her shadow.
It was normal. A perfectly normal fuzzy shadow cast by the living room windows. No sinister smiles- no smile at all. She'd been beginning to suspect it was behind all the things she was seeing and hearing, because her shadow hadn't moved before. It was the only constant in the last few days. But now it was gone.
So was she really going mad? What if there really was something in Vicky's hand, and it wasn't a trick, and she'd just outed herself as being crazy? Tuyen bit her lip, taking off her glasses to rub her eyes before putting them back on and squinting again. Still nothing. Certainly not something that would make her shit her pants- a hard task after everything that she'd seen during and since the party.
”Should I be able to see something? Maybe I need new glasses.” She laughed it off with a small smile. Maybe Vicky was having hallucinations too, and it was caused by mass psychosis post seeing their classmates die.
That would be nice. The moment she had that though her smile wavered, guilt tightening her chest. She shouldn't think something like that, she should be grateful to even be alive. Just concentrate on Vicky right now. Like nothing had happened she smiled again, dark eyes raptly watching Vicky in the way she always did when she happily listened to anything her friend said. Not that Vicky ever needed that encouraging look.
”What is it meant to be?”Vicky just shook her head, the smile on her face growing smug as she took an excited step towards Tuyen. Something lightly prodded Tuyen’s chest even though there was still a gap between the two girls. Vicky took her left index finger, placed it at her right wrist, and then drew her right hand back like she was pulling a ripcord as the phantom pressure on Tuyen’s chest disappeared. Suddenly there was a bat where there was once seemingly nothing, reappearing the second that Vicky’s finger had slid all the way down from the grip to the tip, reversing the Strikeout spell she had cast on it.
“Sooooo, magic’s real,” said Vicky, triumphantly slinging the bat over her shoulder.
”Oh.” Tuyen’s initial verbal reaction was lacklustre, unlike her reactive flinch away from an invisible force. But her eyes did widen as she stared at the now visible bat, then at Vicky.
Magic was real. It shouldn’t surprise her, but some part of her was still in denial about what happened at the party. She’d believed Vicky was really dead, but it was hard to accept it had been by some invisible force- that there’d been a
monster there. When Vicky turned up alive, it was more likely that it was all a hallucination.
But it turned out only Vicky dying had been. She didn’t understand why, and she couldn’t think about it, because she was standing there stupidly staring at her friend without any further reaction. Hopefully Vicky would just think she’d been shocked stupid.
“Oh?” repeated Vicky, having hoped for a bit more.
”What? You can use magic?” Tuyen finally gasped, actually surprised. Just because monsters were real didn’t mean normal people could suddenly use magic. She couldn’t. Though that wasn’t much of a surprise. Why would someone like her get magic? It made sense that someone like Vicky would, but not her. She was so weak that she’d ended up seeing things for days after just seeing a monster.
”How- How did you do it?”That was better.
“Oh, it’s easy. It just comes naturally,” said Vicky, cycling between the bat being visible and invisible. Each time it disappeared a spark of light gleamed from her finger nail as she traced it along the bat.
Truth be told, she couldn’t even begin explaining how it was possible, or how she could do it, or what she was even really doing. The spell was simply replication, stolen from a foggy vision during her Kindling that had survived being purged from her memory. Still, why pretend like she was anything other than a super cool, ultra powerful witch?
“And that’s not all!” Vicky turned her head slightly and poked at her cheek, giving Tuyen a clear target.
“Hit me.”Tuyen's awe towards Vicky quickly turned back to anxiety when she was faced with a lose-lose situation. Was this how Vicky wanted to get her anger out? Was she planning to get upset when Tuyen punched her, or if she didn't do what she asked?
She didn't want to, but it was easier to do what Vicky said. She'd make sure it was a weak punch- not that she could deliver a strong one anyway.
”O-Okay.” Tuyen clenched her fist, and aimed a pathetic punch at Vicky's cheek.
Vicky waved a hand behind her back as Tuyen’s fist, well, it didn’t quite soar through the air so much as it reluctantly trudged through it. There was a static pop and a flash of dim light moments before knuckles touched cheek. If Tuyen had thrown a real haymaker she might’ve ended up with a sore wrist. Instead, all she would feel was a kinetic slap across the knuckles as Vicky dramatically oversold the absorbed punch. She spun and twisted her head down as she doubled over, grabbing at her cheek, her hair and hand covering up the magical weave as it snapped and vanished.
“Owwww! Ohmygawd, Tuyen! Whatthefuck!?” shouted Vicky, a champion in overreacting to a slight injury.
“I didn’t think you’d actually do it! Ohmygawd, you might’ve broken my face!”Vicky stood up straight and flicked her hair back, revealing that it had all been just a bit to give Tuyen a bit of panic and that her face was still absolutely perfect. She let out a sharp, meanspirited laugh, the kind that left no question when it came to determining if Vicky was laughing with or laughing at.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Didn’t feel a thing,” said Vicky, still cracking up at herself.
“I think even if I didn’t use magic I wouldn’t have felt anything, either. If that’s the hardest you can hit we need to get you to a gym. Should we try it with something else?A knife?” Vicky let out a loud gasp.
“No, wait! Does your uncle have a gun?”Tuyen wrung her hands in front of her, panicked apologies dying on her lips. There was still panic in her eyes, lingering as Vicky’s fake pain overlapped with horrific images.
A disembodied head, blood dripping from torn flesh at the neck, glazed over eyes staring at her. Blond hair turned crimson. A half open mouth filled with blaming words. Sinister, mocking laughter rang in her ears.
She snapped out of it, covering the moment of real fear up with an awkward, self deprecating smile.
”No he doesn’t.” Something she was very thankful for now.
”I don’t want to try with something else… What if it really hurts you? I know you’ve got magic and it’s really strong, but I just don’t think I can try and hurt you.”When disagreeing with Vicky, it was best to compliment her too, in the hope it would dampen any strong reaction. Throwing in a compromise wouldn’t hurt either.
”Maybe I can throw something at you?”“I’ve seen you throw before. No thanks,” said Vicky, falling back onto the couch with a pout.
“Forget it. I guess we’ll just have to wait until Jared’s crazy ass breaks out of prison to find out if I’m bulletproof or not.”It was clear that Vicky was a bit disappointed, although it really wasn’t because of Tuyen’s compromise. While she was absolutely thrilled to have magic, she didn’t consider it to be really strong despite what Tuyen had said. Her only other spell was creating some lame quiet space, it wasn’t showy or cool at all. There was no point in even showing it to Tuyen. Tyler could make himself teleport, and Tommy could summon a bird to shit all over somebody’s car or peck out their eyes. She couldn’t even make herself go invisible, only small stuff. So, what, she could easily shoplift some lipstick like some lameass criminal? It fucking sucked how everyone got cooler magic than she did.
Maybe she could convince Tuyen to go raid the 7-Eleven with her. But even then they could only snag one six pack of beer.
“So what about you? You get some magic too?” asked Vicky, adding under her breath,
“Seems like everyone else did.”After some hesitation, Tuyen sat down on the edge of the armchair that was expressly her aunt’s, with no one else ever allowed to sit on it. But it was closest to where Vicky’s head was, and her aunt wasn’t here. She gripped onto her knees, fingers subtly clenching into her skirt.
Magic was yet another thing for her to feel insecure about. Someone like her didn’t deserve it, and she’d never been lucky either. It wasn’t a surprise everyone else had it and she didn’t. Even if she did have it, she probably wouldn’t be able to use it well. She really was useless. At least if she had a little bit, she could have helped people at the party.
”No, I didn’t,” she said quietly, looking at her feet. Not unless a possibly sentient shadow counted. But it was just as likely she was going mad, and the one consistent factor between all her hallucinations was really just a part of them.
”I can’t do anything. I’ve seen some strange things, but I don’t feel any different.” Though the hallucinations counted as strange things, that wasn’t what she meant. There’d been the monster at the party, and other less scary things she’d seen peering out her window at night. She didn’t understand why that was happening… And maybe it was all from her imagination. But she had a gut feeling some of that was real.
”Who else got magic? Did you all form some kind of magical link because of it?” “No, I don’t think we did?” replied Vicky, quickly hiding the sly smile that had emerged on her face upon learning that Tuyen didn’t have magic.
“I hope not, anyway! Tyler has it, too. Ick, imagine having to be linked to him forever. So does that one weird kid, the one obsessed about his lame old car?” Vicky pretended not to be able to remember Tommy’s name.
“Double ick.”Did anyone else…Vicky sat up, suddenly recalling a part of the night she had forgotten, a look of horror on her face.
“Oh man, I think Ella has magic too! Ick, ick, ick! I do not want to be linked to her,” said Vicky, her voice suddenly shifting into a surprisingly decent Ella impersonation, complete with gratuitous, needless posing and peace signs.
“Ohhoho, Vicky-sama, it is such an honor to be a magical girl alongside you, senpai.” Seriously, why did all the assholes and losers get magic? Wait, did that mean that Vicky was—no, nope, nah, absolutely not. Just a coincidence. Still, she didn’t like the company she was in, not one bit.
“Ugh! They’re all so intolerable. It sucks that you didn’t get magic. I don’t want to be stuck with them,” said Vicky.
She flopped back down, rolled onto her stomach, and buried her face into her arms with a loud groan, kicking her feet against the arm of the couch before she completely deflated. Vicky said something muffled into the couch cushion, followed by a pause, followed by a muted
“wait” before she pushed herself back up and let out a loud gasp.
“What if I could teach you? I learned by seeing it, sorta, so maybe that’d work for you?”Although finding out so many other people had magic was a blow to Tuyen's already fragile self confidence, it was at least softened by the Ella impersonation. Her laugh was actually genuine, her eyes creasing behind her glasses and tense frame relaxing just slightly. Tuyen liked Ella, but she knew the overly energetic girl wouldn't notice her if she wasn't Vicky's friend and thus the occasional sub for the soft ball team, so she didn't feel much guilt about finding it funny. And the impression really was accurate. A smile remained even when Vicky went back to complaining. It wasn't unusual for Tuyen to smile- pretend she was alright was second nature, and it was an important part of that. It was even genuine most of the time. The current smile was more like her normal ones in that regard, rather than the awkward or nervous ones she'd been trying to force out.
She felt a bit more normal again, even if her normal wasn't exactly happy. She may not have magic, but at least she had Vicky. For days she'd thought she had no one left. Not having magic was expected, and just another thing to feel inferior over, but she was already so much worse than everyone-
”You really think I could learn?” She leaned forward, looking at Vicky with wide, excited eyes. Having hope led to disappointment, but she could never stop herself from hoping.
At least this time, it doesn't matter if it doesn't work, because it's time spent together… Right?”I’d like to try. Even if it doesn't work, it doesn't necessarily mean you're stuck with them, unless you have to form some kind of magic team… Even then, I'll help somehow.” For a moment, the image of a shadowy creature cutting a path through teenagers flashed through her mind. But that hadn't been her. It couldn't have been. She forced away the image, concentrating on Vicky, staring at her with excited expectation tinged with admiration.
”I wouldn't leave you alone with them… But let's try it. Please teach me.” “It will work,” said Vicky, having absolutely no idea of how to even go about such a thing but still able to convince herself that she could.
Vicky hopped up to her feet, rolled her shoulders to loosen up, and directed Tuyen to stand up with her. Now, where to actually start? She was pretty sure if she threw a punch at Tuyen while trying to teach her how to cast a Shutout spell it would just immediately end their training session, so instead she’d teach her how to make something invisible. Then later they could shoplift two six packs of beer. Vicky grabbed one of the throw pillows she had knocked off of the couch and set it on the coffee table.
“Okay, this is an easy one. Requires less precise timing. All you have to do is take your finger, run it across the length of the pillow, and think…” About how nobody else deserved to have it,
“...of it like you’re striking it out like a word from a page. Like this.”Vicky swiped her finger across the pillow and it was gone, her softball bat reappearing in her hand. A swipe in the other direction and it was back again. She stepped back and leaned on her bat as she crossed her leg in front of the other, gesturing for Tuyen to step up to the challenge.
“Go on. Give it a shot,” said Vicky. She snapped her fingers.
“Oh, and like, really focus.”Vicky made it sound incredibly easy, though Tuyen knew things were rarely that easy for her. Maybe this time it really would be so simple. Even if it took a few tries, she’d still be able to use magic.
If it could even be taught.”Alright, I understand. I’ll try my best.” Tuyen slid forward, kneeling in front of the pillow. Her shadow followed her, its growing strangeness out of her sight and invisible to anyone else. She’d watched Vicky raptly, easily taking in each small movement. She was experienced in that, after all. Though she couldn’t read Vicky’s mind and know if she was thinking something specific when using magic… She could only hope Vicky would’ve told her.
Tuyen took a deep breath, and swiped a finger across the pillow with much less confidence than Vicky had. As her finger lifted up,
the pillow disappeared right before her eyes. She let out the breath she’d been unknowingly holding in and her eyes widened.
”Did I do it?” she gasped, hardly believing it, but desperately wanting to at the same time.
Vicky covered her mouth as she snorted at Tuyen’s genuine excitement for failing so hard.
“Oh, wow! Yeah! You did it!” teased Vicky before bursting into laughter. It took her a moment to recompose herself.
“Oh my god, that was fucking adorable. I mean, the motion was spot on but I never doubted that you could move your finger. Okay now, like, do it again, a little faster maybe, only this time actually make it go invisible, okay? You got this. I believe in you.”Vicky squatted down across the table from Tuyen and gave her an intense stare that was one part motivational and two parts intimidation: don’t fuck up this time.
“And remember: focus.”Tuyen’s momentary joy was quickly shattered by Vicky’s laughter. Her stomach sank. Horror filled her gaze that she forced to stay on the pillow she couldn’t see, rather than looking towards her friend- or
something else. It wasn’t the teasing that upset her, or the laughter. Vicky had even said it was
adorable, which made the sting of failing a little less sore.
It was that she couldn’t see the pillow at all. It had disappeared, but only for her. She thought the hallucinations had stopped, at least when was with Vicky- that being with someone made it better.
”Right, it was just a joke… I almost got you, right?” Tuyen laughed, uncomfortable under twin intense stares, one much more sinister than the other. She still stared intently at where the pillow should be, pretending it was to focus instead of to prevent Vicky seeing the emotions she couldn’t hide from her eyes.
”Sorry, I’ll focus.”She didn’t know where the edge of the pillow was so she could only go by her memory. Thankfully her finger landed on its softness rather than continuing down to the hard table, though to Vicky it would be obvious she was closer to the centre than one end of it. She narrowed her eyes and forced a confident, slightly fast swipe.
The pillow stayed hidden and she didn’t immediately react this time, waiting for Vicky first. Though she had a sinking feeling it hadn’t worked, and never would.
“You’re not focusing!” Vicky let out a frustrated groan as she slapped her forehead. Not only was the pillow visible, she didn’t even do the motion right. How many times did she have to say focus to get Tuyen to stop goofing around and fucking focus? Her voice became an annoyed growl.
“Do you want magic or not? Then. FOCUS!”Wait, focus? Vicky smacked her forehead again.
“Oh my god, Tuyen. I’m so sorry. I forgot the most important part. It’s way easier if you have a focus to channel your magic through. You know, like a magic wand or a wizard’s staff…or a bat, apparently,” said Vicky, wiggling her Channeler.
“Just grab anything sticklike and that should do it. Oh, and get my phone, too!”Tuyen subtly flinched as Vicky got more frustrated at her. She was fighting a losing battle, trying to focus on something that she couldn’t see.
But that was just an excuse for how lazy she was. She wasn’t even trying because she already knew she’d fail. She was useless. She couldn’t even use a little bit of magic. ”Oh, it’s alright… I’ll be back in a moment.” Tuyen smiled, glad for the excuse to be alone for a moment while also feeling guilty for feeling that way. She quickly disappeared out of the room, practically silent when she was out of sight, even when going up the stairs.
Vicky’s phone was where she’d left it on her bed. Finding something sticklike took a bit more work… But it wasn’t so much of a problem as the pull her bedroom had on her. Once she entered, Tuyen didn’t want to leave again. It didn’t feel as safe as it once had, but it was still safer than anywhere else. At least here there was no one to witness her breakdown.
She thought she’d be able to handle spending time with Vicky. She thought it might stop the hallucinations. But it didn’t. It was too much for her. Everything was.
She was snapped out of it by a sudden fear, grabbing a pencil and rushing back out. If she took too long Vicky wouldn’t just wait, she’d shout for Tuyen and maybe even come upstairs to find her. Tuyen couldn’t have her coming into her room right now. It made it obvious how the last few days had gone for her, and there were things in there she really didn’t want her friend to see.
”Will this do?” She asked, reappearing after what had felt like an age but had really not been much more than five minutes. She held up a pencil in one hand, holding out Vicky’s phone with the other.
“Yes!” cried an absolutely elated Vicky.
Given how quickly she snatched the phone out of Tuyen’s hand it might not have been in response to the question. Then Vicky made it quite clear that it wasn’t as she hugged the phone to her chest, let out a delighted little squeal to finally, finally, finally be able to check in with all of the other popular girls (no way would she show up to their house like she had with Tuyen, that was way too uncool) and let them know that their queen had survived. She beamed, absolutely radiant, ready to bath her face in that wonderful blue light. Her trembling finger hit the button on the side, her head falling down in a slump the second she saw the black screen with a picture of an empty battery on it.
“What the fuck, you didn’t charge it?” bitched Vicky, a flash of heat rising in her voice that quickly dispersed. She waved away the complaint before Tuyen had a chance to apologize (and God would she apologize, sheesh).
“Don’t worry about it. Seriously, thank you so much for saving this. Oh Tuyen, you’re just the best.” “Keep practicing. I’m sure you’ll get it,” said Vicky, starting to walk out of the room towards the stairs.
“Be right back. I’m just gonna steal your charger.””Wait!” Tuyen called out with more assertiveness than she could normally muster, quickly following behind Vicky to stop her. Quick, she had to come up with an excuse.
”My room's a mess right now… I was in the middle of tidying it. You won't be able to find my charger, it's probably hidden under something, I'll get it.”Her explanation was hurried but at least it was partly truthful. It was just more than the mess. It was evidence of how much she was struggling. She couldn't have Vicky seeing that, she really couldn't. She tried to move past Vicky, looking down at the floor as the brief bout of assertiveness quickly gave way to guilt over lying.
Vicky slid to the right and then to the left to block Tuyen from getting past her. A mess? Yeah, right. She knew an excuse when she heard one. Sometimes Tuyen just needed a little push, especially when it came to anything moderately difficult. First she'd offer to grab the charger, then she'd suggest they get a snack, and so on and so forth before Vicky had been completely distracted and forgotten about the whole thing.
”Ohhhh no you don't. Get back in there and keep practicing. I want the pillow to be gone when I get back,” said Vicky, putting a foot on the first step.
”God, you're so lazy. No wonder you don't have magic.” A poor imitation of Vicky whispered in Tuyen's ear.
”I’m not trying to get out of practicing! It's really not an excuse!” Tuyen actually snapped, reaching out to grab Vicky's wrist. It was a fairly pathetic snap, with barely any bite to it, but it was completely out of the ordinary for her. Immediately her eyes widened and the hand holding onto Vicky trembled slightly, but didn't let go. Oh God, what had she done?
”I- I'm sorry, but I'm really not lying, it's really messy- C-cause nobody else is home, I've been lazier with it, I'm really sorry, Vicky, I didn't mean that… Just please let me get the charger for you.”Vicky was briefly stunned by Tuyen’s sudden bark, absolutely gobsmacked by her friend’s unbending insistence. An apology started to approach Vicky’s lips before it retreated back down into the pit of her stomach as she wrenched her wrist free from Tuyen’s grasp and rubbed it. Vicky glared down her nose at Tuyen, feelings of confusion and suspicion drowned out by a lowpitch whine that became a feral scream in her head as her temper flared. What the actual fuck was Tuyen’s problem? The more Tuyen made it clear that she didn’t want Vicky in her room, the more Vicky wanted to push her away and storm up the stairs to see what she was hiding.
“Oooooooooooookay,” said Vicky, stretching the word to buy time to abate the fury inside of her.
Vicky knew Tuyen. The mess was probably nothing more than some clothes on the ground and an untucked bed. She had wanted a charger and she was getting a charger. Who got it didn’t matter. Vicky took her foot off of the step and moved to the side to let Tuyen through with a sneer.
“You’re not acting weird at all. If you don’t want me in your room, just say so. I don’t care.” Vicky walked back into the living room, calling out behind her,
“It’s not like I don’t know what’s going on. It’s pretty obvious what you get up to when nobody’s home, sinner.”Tuyen froze, a panicked gaze following Vicky’s back. She was right. Tuyen was a sinner. But how did Vicky know that? She couldn’t know about the self harm. Tuyen hid it too well, even her cousin didn’t know, and they’d lived together. It couldn’t be that… Then had she found out about Tuyen’s disgusting feelings? She thought the Tuyen- think of that- No, then their friendship would be over. But what else could it mean? Did she really know Tuyen hurt herself, and didn’t care?
Filled with panic, Tuyen forced herself to run upstairs, finding her charger as fast as she could to avoid upsetting Vicky further.
When Tuyen came back downstairs, Vicky was pacing in the living room. She snatched the charger out of Tuyen’s hand without a thanks or even a simple acknowledgment of her existence. Vicky found the closest wall outlet, hooked everything up, and sat down on the floor. It was quite clear that she was still annoyed by Tuyen for standing up to her, even if it was over something so minor, as Vicky’s attention remained solely focused on the black screen of her phone as she waited for the big, fat zero hovering over the battery symbol to become a one.
The room felt oppressive as Vicky finally spoke without looking up, breaking the uncomfortable silence but not the tension,
“Why do I still see a pillow?””I- I’m sorry,” Tuyen stammered out, having not even gone back to the pillow. In fact, she’d barely moved since Vicky took the charger. Her nervous gaze flickered from the floor to Vicky, then back again. Her expression was bad, but how she felt was much worse. Years of practice let her hide it under a mask of normal anxiousness, so it wasn’t visible just how terrified and miserable she felt. It had been a lose-lose scenario, but why did she snap at Vicky? Why did she make everything so much worse?
She didn’t know how to fix things. Normally she’d get something for Vicky to break the silent treatment, before doing whatever she was asked to. But she couldn’t drag herself out of the house to Starbucks to get her whatever sugar-free coffee was her current favourite this time. Just the thought of leaving the house had her heart pounding in her chest and her breathing growing even quicker. Her shadow slunk around her, the corners of her vision seeming to grow darker, like she was getting trapped in. She wanted to leave, to hide in her room to escape this situation. But she couldn’t. She had to try and salvage the only friendship she had.
Even though it was probably already over. ”I’ll try harder.” Tuyen made her way back to the pillow, thankfully visible to her again. At least she’d be useful again if she managed to make it disappear. Grasping her pencil, she tried again.
And again and again, for five minutes, ten minutes, without a single change. Tuyen practically disassociated, arm going through the motions as her mind disconnected from it. She didn’t feel frustrated at the lack of progress, only hopeless. It was like her chance of fixing things was slipping away with each failed swipe. She could only give up. She couldn’t use magic, no matter how hard she tried. She just wasn’t good enough.
She took a deep breath, managing to push back down the despair she was feeling and that had slipped into her expression. Then she turned towards Vicky with an apologetic smile, nervously wringing her hands together.
”I really don’t think I can do it. Maybe only certain people can use magic, and it can’t be learned… Maybe I wasn’t chosen, and you were.”Vicky had her head down, thumb swiping as she stared down at her phone. She hadn’t looked up since she had been able to turn it on, seemingly unaware that Tuyen had been still attempting magic. Normally, in the absence of a present, some praise (yes, yes, but of course she’d be chosen) might be enough to warm up Vicky’s cold shoulder. Yet her irritation had shifted, becoming darker and more glum. All she could offer up as she continued staring into the screen was a halfhearted,
“Yeah, maybe…”It just didn’t make sense. Something must’ve been wrong with her phone. Perhaps it was glitchy. Perhaps it had needed an update. Maybe it just had to be connected to the WiFi. Yet Vicky had troubleshooted everything while Tuyen was failing to disappear a pillow and her phone should’ve been functioning normally. So why then did she have so few new text messages? She had seen some of her friends’ cars were missing while getting questioned by the cops, so they weren’t all dead. And it wasn’t like she had stopped getting texts after her phone had died, because one had been delivered to her the moment she had turned it on.
It had been from an unknown number, a long, a heartfelt message from someone named Rebecca expressing her deepest sympathies for what Vicky must’ve been going through with the loss of her boyfriend, confessing that they too had recently lost a loved one, and offering to take her out for a coffee if she needed someone to talk to. It was nice, and thoughtful, and immediately deleted once Vicky realized that Rebecca was actually Dumbfuck Dickbrain aka that weasel Danny Graham’s girlfriend.
It was a mystery why Bitchface O’Whoreslut thought Vicky would ever want her consolation, but the bigger concern was why had none of her friends texted her? Everyone knew by now that Chef had died at the party, so why wasn’t she getting bombarded with attention? And in memoriam had played the other day on the local news, so they would’ve known that she wasn’t actually dead. Even the group chat she was in with all of her friends had no new messages. That simply was impossible. Something was up. Something was wrong.
“Tuyen,” said Vicky, breaking away from the shackles of her phone to close the distance between them. She plopped down across the coffee table from her, brushed the pillow off the top, and held open her palm as she gave Tuyen an unflinching staredown.
“Give me your phone.””A-Alright,” Tuyen immediately agreed, though she was scared about why Vicky wanted her phone. Was she trying to find evidence of the sinning to use against her? Or maybe she was going to do something in revenge, like text her aunt something that would get Tuyen in loads of trouble. She had no idea, but at the same time was desperate to make things up to Vicky.
She patted her skirt, before belatedly realising it didn't have any pockets. Where was her phone? She hadn't seen it in her room… When did she last use it? Oh, right, last night when she planned to try and eat, only to be interrupted by a call from her aunt scolding her for something Tuyen didn't remember doing. It had killed any appetite, and she'd left her phone in the kitchen when fleeing to her room.
”One minute.” Tuyen quickly got up and scurried through to the kitchen, grabbing her phone off the counter. There weren't any important messages thankfully, just a few from Min this morning telling her to not mind what his mum had said and that she'd been in a bad mood last night for other reasons. As she walked back through, Tuyen sent a simple ‘it’s okay' in response. She exited her messaging app and put her unlocked phone in Vicky's outstretched hand. Maybe Vicky's phone was just broken somehow, and it wasn't anything bad. Tuyen's phone may be a very outdated smartphone, but it was sturdy, so it worked no matter the circumstances. She hoped that was it.
”Here you go… What do you need it for?”“Hopefully nothing,” said Vicky through gritted teeth as she snatched the phone, her stomach starting to twist itself into knots.
Immediately, she reopened the messaging app. There was shockingly little to look at, the inbox so desolate that Vicky didn’t even have to scroll, although perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising at all. Knowing Tuyen’s aunt, that overbearing woman would probably scrub through her niece’s phone looking for any excuse she could find to critique the poor girl. Tuyen probably just deleted her messages to avoid getting into trouble, rationalized Vicky, ignoring the fact that one of the only active threads in the inbox was from Vicky with the blurb beneath it reading:
bitch cmon lets get wasted.Vicky sighed. The group chat she was looking for wasn’t here and in a way it was kind of a relief, as it allowed her to delude her suspicions. She was about to hand the phone back to Tuyen when she paused. Tuyen was in the group chat, but she never responded to the chat, so anytime their group was doing something Vicky always had to send a separate message. She pulled up the tab for muted conversations and there it was sitting above a vile message from John Miller sent the night of the party: the group chat containing all the girls that sat at their lunch table, the last message sent under an hour ago.
So she had been right. They had kicked her out, but they had forgotten about Tuyen.
“Fucking bitches,” growled Vicky under her breath as she opened the chat. Vicky jumped up to her feet and began pacing the room as she scrolled through the log, finding the night of the warehouse party. Her face began to turn a shade of red as she read through the new messages, the topic shifting from how crazy it was that an earthquake hit Cornell (or perhaps it had been a gas leak, or both, the girls weren’t sure) to a nasty rumor Gwen had heard from Natasha about Vicky and Chef.
Everything then degraded from there. It went from how much of a bitch Vicky was (
i never liked her anyway), to how Vicky was responsible for getting Chef killed, to how Vicky actually killed Chef by using him as a human and pulling him in front of a high tension steel wire as it had snapped to protect herself. It became absurd, declaring that Vicky immediately made a move on Tyler after Chef had died (
as if he would date someone like her), that she had snuck off in the woods with him, that someone had seen her coming out of the woods with two guys (
omg what a skank!) that she must’ve been fooling around with.
Funnily enough, they had nothing bad to say about Tyler:
Boys will be boys.Vicky stopped pacing, a look of horror fixed on her face as she continued scrolling, not wanting to read more but unable to look away:
You just know she’s gonna make Chef’s funeral all about her.It sucks that she survivedugh i no i absolutely dread seeing her at school i can’t believe they’re opening it back upShould I send her screenshots of this chat? Maybe she’ll fix that problem for us!oh my god that’s horrible lolI meant she wouldn’t come to school gawd not that
…
Wait do you think she actually would?[/color]
[code]I HOPE SOOMG GWEN STOP!! LMAO!!!Vicky sniffed, wiped her eyes, and then wordlessly handed Tuyen her phone back with a hollow smile. The screen was still open to the group chat. She had her fill. She collapsed into Tuyen’s aunt’s chair, hands on her forehead, her eyes on her shoes as she tried to remember how to breathe.
Tuyen's eyes widened as she saw the messages on her screen. She quickly scrolled up to read the rest of the messages, eyes widening further. She felt sick. Vicky didn't deserve any of those things said about her. She was a good person, good enough to still be friends with someone like Tuyen. She definitely didn't like Tyler- she'd been so upset after breaking up with Chef too, though Tuyen was fuzzy on the exact details. This wasn't fair.
Her fingers hovered over her phone keyboard, trembling slightly. Just the thought of sending a message made it difficult to breathe. She knew these girls weren't her friends- they only put up with her thanks to Vicky, which Tuyen had always been grateful for, no matter how uncomfortable being around them made her feel. She didn't need anything more, didn't even deserve it. They probably didn't even remember she existed…
It would be easier to be a coward and not say anything at all.It's not like that. Just sending that one message took a lot of effort on her part. Before she could send another, responses quickly came through.
Ew, who left Vicky's lapdog in?soz I forgot about herlol maybe SHE'LL fix the problem for us There was a pause before Tuyen was kicked too.
”Vicky…” Tuyen dropped her phone, shuffling over to Vicky and crouching in front of her. She bit her lip, looking nervously at her. She wouldn't take the words to heart and do what they'd suggested, would she? No, no- not everyone felt like they didn't deserve to exist like Tuyen did. Vicky was normal. She wouldn't consider that. But of course she was upset.
”They don't know what they're talking about, they- They don't deserve a friend like you. They're talking like that because they're… jealous.”She truly believed that everything they said was bullshit, but she didn't know how to comfort Vicky about it either. It didn't really matter if it was false because it was still horrible things they were saying about her. She wanted to hug her again, but she was worried how that'd be received- especially if Vicky knew the thoughts Tuyen sometimes had. No, best not to.
”I’ll always be your friend, no matter what. I know you're nothing like that.” She looked up at Vicky, managing to look like she truly believed what she was saying. She
did, she just didn't think her friendship was worth much at all.
“It’s fine,” said Vicky with a sudden look of determination as her teeth stopped gnawing ineffectively at her acrylic nails. If she’d snapped out of her funk any faster it would’ve been accompanied by a sonic boom, but instead the only ringing was in her ears. She put her hand on Tuyen’s shoulders as if to show gratitude for her kind words only to use her for leverage as Vicky pushed herself up out of the chair.
“You’re right, they’re just jealous. I don’t even care what they think about me anyway.”She didn’t. She totally didn’t. She just couldn’t help but think that if Tuyen was supposed to be such a good friend then she should’ve been there for her in the warehouse because like, and it wasn’t Tuyen’s fault, but if Tuyen had been there to help Vicky escape instead of Tyler then those bitches wouldn’t have seen them together. Again, it wasn’t Tuyen’s fault, but really, the more Vicky thought about it, if Tuyen had been there instead of Tyler then nobody would’ve believed those stupid fucking rumors Lexi’s dumb friend had spread.
And honestly, it wasn’t Tuyen’s fault, it wasn’t, it wasn’t, it wasn’t right to blame her, but really, somebody had to be a fault here, and it wasn’t Vicky, and it wasn’t Tyler, because at very least Tyler had been there for Vicky when she needed someone, and he didn’t even claim to be her friend, in fact he fucking hated her, just like everybody else apparently hated her, so how come if Tuyen was supposedly such a good friend then:
“WHY—”HADN’T TUYEN FUCKING BEEN THERE? “—would you look at the time?”Vicky looked at an imaginary watch on her wrist then grabbed her phone and her bat.
“I promised Diane I’d help her with dinner. This was a lot of fun. It sucks that you can’t do magic. But really, don’t worry about me. I’m totally fine. Oh, but Tuyen, you really shouldn’t lie,” said Vicky hypocritically, having just told a bunch of lies herself.
The bat vanished from Vicky’s hand. A second later, Tuyen would feel it poke her chest again. Vicky gave her a proud, wicked smile.
“We both know that I’m as big of a bitch as they say I am. And now that I have magic? Oh, I can be so.” Poke.
“Much.” Poke.
“Worse.”
